The fate of the abortion pill is in the hands of the United States Supreme Court.
The high court, which has a conservative majority, has the power to maintain full access to the medicine or reverse the regulatory changes that have made the abortion pill one of the most accessible medicines in recent years in the country.
This includes allowing pills to be prescribed via telemedicine, delivered by mail and used up to 10 weeks into pregnancy.
As a result, after the American Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (law that guaranteed abortion throughout the United States) in 2022, a federal judge in Texas decided to suspend the approval of mifepristone by the country’s regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – which is one of the two most used pills by the Americans.
The medicine is still available to the public until the Supreme Court rules on the case.
Additionally, the abortion pill is responsible for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the US, according to 2023 data from the Guttmacher Institute.
At least 5.9 million women have used mifepristone since its approval by the FDA in 2000. It is also frequently prescribed to treat miscarriage.
